One last pic... one of the many (many many many) Gin Traps that get located and removed from the concessions....



.... this thing is huge !! I didn't snap a reference pic to give it scale, but I have one later in the trip.

So ... Croc Hunting is done, time to hit the road and see about that Kudu..... as you guessed back in the truck for another few (6 in the end I think) hours of driving...again the WORST parts were the sealed roads...bleh !!!!

About 4hrs in it was time for lunch, we had just turned off the crappy sealed road and were back on the dirt and making good time but everyone was hungry...



About an hour after lunch we hit the town and tried to grab some rolls for the following day's lunches from one of the two bakeries with no luck ...



This is looking back up the main street.... the guy with the orange umbrella is selling cell phone sims and airtime, this is the new "drug" in Moz. Everyone has a phone and they are running constantly...you get approached everywhere being offered "credit" or "a card"... I remember when the same approach was used for "Horse" and "Goey" but now it is airtime....



Soooo.... the concession we are travelling to is not under control of the company I was hunting with. They have an arrangement where they take clients to each other's concessions when a particular species is better represented in an area. The company I was with have better numbers of Nyala and Waterbuck, this area has Kudu.... This is a huge tract of land (500,000 acres) that is very close to the Gorongosa Park (not bordering it though). The company managing the concession has been there now 14yrs and have done fabulous work re-establishing wildlife in the area (immediately post the civil war it was barren of any wildlife whatsoever). Now, Kudu, Impala, Warthog and a number of the other small fury animals are in great numbers.

As we were to discover, lions have also moved back in (with abundant food sources predators follow), there are transient elephant and a very very small (less than 15) herd of Cape Buffalo.

Besides the hunting they also have an "Eco-Lodge" and take photographic safaris out from there. Driving in we met the managers on the road and after some introductions they let us know that the main camp was expecting us and to make ourselves at home. Boet had told me to expect a tent placed on a small deck with a thatched roof above as my accommodation. Just fine with me... "sadly" when we got to camp there was another group of hunters (well a family of three, with more money than I can imagine doing a 30 day accompanied safari around Zim and Moz) who were occupying the tented area, how sad... that only left the "chalet" type accommodation for me....



....tough going of course... but I guess I could manage....

This camp generally caters for a client looking for more of a "refined" style of hunting than I, the dining room/bar was lovely and comfortable and the meals were served by a staff. Happy Days, not generally my thing but a nice look at how "the other side" live

When attending to "take lunch or dinner" I did feel compelled to down tools on the deck before taking my place at the table .....



There are two ways that plains game is generally hunted, especially in dry/warmer areas like this... off the vehicle (very common is SA and Namibia and here in Moz as well) or on foot, like here in warmer months, hunting into or off out from water. I have never been one to drive around so you can guess my choices here.

First afternoon out we drove out from the camp (they have a 1km radius for no hunting right around the camp) and down to some lower lying ground that looked as though it would run off to a dam or lagoon etc. And off out we walked. It was fabulous seeing so much wildlife around, Warthogs were abundant (though all female, small or young) and Impala annoyingly common Working down the contour of the land made for easy walking as well. Heading down we saw a number of Kudu cows and a couple of small bulls. We hit the "bottom" of the slope and saw that it would run into a dam but it ran across our path first so we followed this for a bit then, with dark approaching we turned back up hill for the hour or so walk back to the vehicle... and yep... there was a great looking Kudu Bull... not 50yds away.... no question that I would take a shot at him... nope none at all...now.... rewind to some point above where I mentioned that you need to get the crosshairs on the critter and the shot away ASAP as they don't stand around.... yep... I was trying to get my shyte together and he was gone. All my fault of course and I got "the lecture" from Boet to that effect we tried hunting up on him again but to no avail.

As we walked along we did hear a slow "crashing" of trees and soon could see some movement ahead... I struggled to get my camera out and the ISO screwed up (as light was fading fast now) but I can say also that my heart was racing and one of the truly great experiences of my time hunting in Africa (or anywhere) was right in front of me... wild Elephant

Crappy pics...



Yep...needed more ISO ...





.... out on the far left was a young bull... these Elephant were aware of us before we were of them I suspect. They were already well on guard. The young bull started to carry on a little, lots of ear flapping and a bit of honking and stomping around. We slowly back up and within a minute or so they had meandered off. I can't say just what a wonderful (and yes, it got the heart beating) experience that was.

Got back to the truck as the sun was getting very very low in the sky...